In more generic way i’d categorize them as Forums (GS, IRCs, ..), Instant Messengers (MSN, Yahoo, ..), Music players (iPod, ..), Cell phones (SMS, unwanted calls, …), Video Games (XBox, PS2, ..), Internet (anything …), TV, etc. etc. (you name it). Basically, these all are technology oriented distractions (not a complete list at all), but there are many more non-technology things i can include as distractions of life.
Why do i call them distractions and have problem with 'em? … My simple answer is, they cause addiction and consume/waste our time and thus cause certain loss at various fronts.
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine asked me to sign-up for SMS. I did, and started getting those annoying messages from all over the world. My friend never sent me any SMS, but i was getting disturbed every now and then. I went to my account and found there’s a whole lot of world out there, and a bunch of pictures of some girls/women/guys inviting me for friendship etc. I cancelled my subscription and got the peace-of-mind. My point here is that, i found there a trap, addiction, wastage of time etc. Even though i didn’t wasted my time on that, but i saw people are being targetted by that.
I had an office colleague, he showed me that he has about 130+ contacts in his MSN account..(dang!). I said how can you answer them all? … wouldn’t it be rude if you cannot answer anyone? … And how can one even focus on his work with so many people flagging on him/her? I myself don’t use any IMs, i just use emails. There are, no doubt, some advantages of these things but one should remain in limits and have control that it should not affect other life proceedings.
GS is the only kind of chatting thing i have recently started using. But there were few days, i felt i am getting addicted to it and was giving lots of time. I backed off myself immediately and now try to use it limited. I can well imagine how much time other guppies are putting into it. I am specifically concerned about students. I have literally seen students begging to ban them during exams because they can’t keep them off this chatting thing. More interaction provokes more thoughts and your brain starts keep thinking about those things. For a productive study, one requires good concentration and consistency. And i believe, these distractions, addictions and enticements make it much more difficult to have a productive study. This issue (regarding students) itself requires a separate thread, so i won’t discuss more on it here. However, i myself have very good reasons to continue on GS and i can well justify it to myself why do i spend time on this forum.
My purpose of this thread is to hear your opinions and discuss how can one utilize all above technologies in a way that it should not affect our studies, our prayers/salats, our attention to our family, our simple daily tasks that we need to complete on daily basis but procrastinate due to these distractions or addictions.
Other addictions like video games, music, tv, etc. all take our time partly, and some consume more time than others. Some of us would be addicted to more than one domains mentioned above. These all directly or indirectly (little or more) affect our career, religion, and family/social life, *if we do not keep them in limit. The golden principle i believe in is that “more you keep yourself simple, more you can save your time to spend at some better task”. People who developed these technologies (and are making money out of 'em) won’t even have time to use them themselves, whereas the looser-side (the excessive users) spend/sacrifice their money, time, relations and other things. Common public is kept so busy in these things that they rarely get time to think about their life, career, relations etc. I’d like to hear from you:
What are your opinions about these things? How much time you are spending on 'em ?
Are you addicted to any of these things or other things?
Do any of these things affect your daily life, if yes to what extent?
Shouldn’t students realize the fact that these things do consume/waste their time and they might be addicted to some of these? What would you suggest them?
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